BRITISH cyclist Adam Yates was saved by his helmet after smacking his head against the road in a horror crash.
Yates, who finished third at the Tour de France last year, tried to continue before abandoning the race due to concussion.
The incident occurred with a little less than 50km in the third stage of the UAE Tour.
The UAE Team Emirates star was riding towards the front of a peloton when a rival from AG2R La Mondiale tried to move up on the inside.
But as he passed he clipped Yates’ front wheel and sent him flying to the deck as his bike collapsed underneath him.
Yates had no time to react and could not cushion his fall so smacked the back of his head against the tarmac.
He suffered a concussion but is fortunate his helmet prevented a more serious injury.
Team-mate Jay Vine, who is the overall race leader, offered an update on Yates’ condition, saying: “He doesn’t remember hitting the ground, so our thoughts are with him.
“It’s not the way you want to see one of your teammates leave the bike race.”
Another UAE Team Emirates rider Mikkel Bjerg said: “I think it was some of these small cat-eyes, I think some rider was just not paying attention and went down in front of Adam.
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“He said he had a little bad headache, so Matxin said it was his decision whether he wanted to go easy.
“It is just really important that he listened to himself in a situation like this [and] just take care you know, it is only a bike race.”
While team principal Mauro Gianetti confirmed the injury, saying: “He has a concussion because in the first moment, he said, ‘I’m good, I’m good,’ but from the car, they saw that he was not good and they asked him to stop.
“In the first moment he wanted to start again — ‘no, I feel good’ — but the feeling was that he had a bad shock with the head and for concussion, we said it did not make sense to continue.”
